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dines
05-25-2005, 02:59 PM
Hi @ all,

I have a question about optimizing the workflow (and maybe rendertime).

I have 12 objects that I want to appear and vanish in an animation.

Right now I would use the dissolve property. But this would mean to set up an envelope for any appearing periode. Is there an other way to do something like this?
For example in the spreadsheat etc...
Because I think the amount of objects to fade in and out will grow... so another technique would be great to enhance my workflow...:)

thanks

dines
biliousfrog
05-25-2005, 04:01 PM
sounds like a post processing job to me. If you have access to after effects, combustion, premiere or maybe even some cheap/free video editing software you'll probably find it easier in the long run to use those. Render out the passes that you need & use the video editing software to fade them in/out. I normally use after effects as it's layers work in a similar way to photoshop, I don't use it much but it's always quite easy to pick up again after a break.
Insider
05-25-2005, 04:14 PM
If you don't want to post-process the job, it's not too bad to create the dissolves yourself. But, to save time - create the first dissolve envelope. Then, in the Graph Editor, right click on the dissolve listing and "copy" the enevelope. Then, go to the next object, click the E for dissolve, which opens the Graph Editor, right click and paste.

A little tedious, but pretty painless. To offset these dissolves, double click in the Graph Editor's curve window to select all keyframes. Then hold the Ctrl key and click and drag on one of the keys to shift them in time. You'll see a readout appear with the updated values.
dines
05-27-2005, 11:24 AM
@Insider: thanks that was what I was looking for. It worked out excellent for me:thumbsup:.
unfortunately select all keys in a graph did not work with double click in the graph area...
I am using LW 8.3. Did they made any changes or was it just misunderstanding?
I pressed E Button, then I pasted in my env. after that I did a double click in the graph area (and I also tried on the graph, itself)... did not work. I ended up in selecting all keys with holding the shift key...

@biliousfrog: thanks for the tip but in this case I would prefer to do it in LW

thanks guys

dines
Insider
05-27-2005, 03:08 PM
Glad to hear it...

Sorry, that's Shift and double click to select all keys in the Graph Editor.
dines
05-30-2005, 01:58 PM
Excellent... shift+ double click worked

thanks

dines
Carm3D
05-30-2005, 05:41 PM
Keep in mind that if you are using shadowmapped spotlights the shadows will not dissolve with the object. They will blink out once the object hits 100% dissolved. It would be best to render the sequence twice. One with and one without the object.. then dissolve from one render to the other in post.. OR, render the background seperate from the object (and it's shadow) and do it that way.
NanoGator
05-31-2005, 12:09 AM
If I remember correctly, dissolve will cause some unseen polygons to appear. That may not be the effect you're after.
dines
06-02-2005, 01:46 PM
Thanks Carm3d for the advice. In my case I did not use any shadow mapped lightning but for the future I will be prepered. Never thought about this...

@NanoGator: I came across the problem, too. But as far as I remember I had this with objects not subpatched. But thank god in my project no mysterios effects :) ...

So this was really what I was looking for but thanks for the advices...

dines
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